


I Can Save You

by silversky27



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: AU: MC stays at Mint Eye, F/M, Fix-It, It is, Let's be honest, V Route Spoilers, i am v sad rn, unhealthy relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2018-12-31 04:09:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12124218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silversky27/pseuds/silversky27
Summary: She couldn't do it. She couldn't leave. She had promised him.Au where Mc stays with Ray at Mint Eye





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So how about that Day 10 ending? Woof. I'm not sad at all.
> 
> Also, I got annoyed with just using 'she' so I used the name of my Mc Cloud.

                They had left Rika screaming on the floor. Cloud could barely hear Seven’s calm voice giving instructions over Rika’s breakdown, but his voice helped her to focus on what was important at the moment. V, delirious on elixir, was beginning to look worse and worse. Pulling his arm over her shoulder, she quietly pulled him towards the exit, towards Seven’s voice.

                “We need to go quickly before the hacker realizes we’re here.” Seven said urgently, helping up V’s other side to get him into the car.

                The hacker. Ray. The man that had brought her here in the first place. She bit her lip as she thought. He had lied to her. The RFA wasn’t just AIs in a game that he had created, but real people with real lives that she had inserted herself into. But as she prepared to get into the car, she couldn’t ignore the memory of his voice, begging her not to abandon him. Not like all the others, who had thrown him away and driven him to the fearful, eager to please man he was today.

Thinking about him, she took a step back away from the car.

                “What are you doing?” Seven looked at her, urgency painting his voice. “We need to go. Get in.”

                “I- I can’t.” She said quietly. Unsure of herself even as she said the words. “I need to stay here. I need to help him. I promised I wouldn’t leave him.”

                “The hacker?”

                “I don’t think he’s bad. He’s found salvation through Rika, and if it’s anything like the way she described it, I don’t think it’s truly him acting. It’s the twisted actions of a child looking for approval. Does that make sense?” She looked up a Seven, trying to see if she was making sense, or if this place had driven her crazy. The look on his face made her think the latter. “Anyway, I think I can get through to him. Maybe I can use his obsession to help him.”

                “We need to go. Please.” Seven began to look more agitated as their precious time began to slip away. “We need to go now or they’ll catch up to us.”

                She smiled at him softly, before walking forward and hugging him. “Thank you. For everything you and the RFA have done for me. Take care of V and make sure he never comes back here. I’ll try to keep Ray away from the messenger as well.” She pulled back and put her hands on his shoulders, pushing him away and towards his car. For a moment, he looked at her, ready to continue arguing, but then gave a short nod, and climbed in.

                She watched as they drove away. Realistically, she knew that she had probably just made the dumbest idea of her life. She had let V and Seven go. Left Rika screaming in the middle of a dungeon. She hoped that what she was doing wasn’t in vain, and she prayed that the two RFA members made it to safety. That V had managed to escape the elixir without damage.

                She realized as she was walking back that she had no idea where she was. Ray had blindfolded her the last time they had walked through these halls, and Rika never took her much further than the gardens. In her panic, she began to run, hoping for something, anything that looked familiar. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of color.

                Pink. That stupid pink that Ray had coated her room in. She had to laugh at herself. She had hated the color, but his excitement of having set up the room for her and having selected everything himself had made her hold her tongue. Let him have his fun, she had thought at the time. But now the pink signaled safety. Her room was most likely where Ray was if he had been telling her the truth. _It’s not the first time he would have lied to you_ her thoughts whispered, but she couldn’t listen to them right now. She had banked everything on Ray, whether she fully trusted him or not. Ray was her decision, and she was going to stick with him.

                Throwing open the door to her room, the first thing she noticed was the dead silence. Empty. _No shit_ she thought _He’s probably dealing with the mess you just made_. The room felt too large at the moment, and she barely registered that she was on the edge of a panic attack. Her gaze was drawn to the armoire and as she threw the closet doors open and climbed inside, she thought back to when she was little and afraid of thunder. Crawling into confined spaces to quell a fear that wasn’t even real. For a moment she wondered if the fear that was currently racing through her veins was real.

                She curled up in the closet, closing the doors and plunging herself into darkness. She could feel the clothes that Ray had gotten for her hanging over her head, and had to resist the urge to pull something down on top of her, adding another layer of protection. Instead, she wrapped her arms around her knees, focusing on her breathing and waiting for Ray to come back. Praying that she had made the right decision.

~

                V was gone. The redhead was gone. Cloud was gone.

                He was still working on the messenger, trying to crack into the code for the information that the Savior wanted so dearly, when a Believer burst into his room. In their panic, they could barely speak, rasping out a “Follow” before running back in the direction they had came.

                He found his Savior curled up on the dirty floor of the cell where he had last left V, mumbling to herself and occasionally letting out tiny laughs. He approached her slowly, unsure if he would make the situation worse.

                “Savior?” He asked quietly, barely suppressing a flinch as her head whipped up to stare at him.

                “They’re gone.” She said blankly, before her face lit up with an unnatural grin. “We’re going to get them back. We’re going to get them back and then they’ll never leave us again.”

                She began to repeat this to herself, but the only thing that Ray had registered was that she was gone. He didn’t give a shit about where V was. He could die for all Ray cared, but Cloud was gone. The one who had promised that she would never leave him. And she had. He had lied to her, he thought. He’d just need to work hard. Show her how much he needed her. He would get her back.

                He helped the Savior up, leading her back to her rooms, where she could have her moment away from the prying eyes of the Believers. She needed to remain strong in front of them, and he wouldn’t let this incident defile that.

                He slowly wandered to Cloud’s room. He knew she wasn’t going to be there. She had left with V and with the redhead. She was out of his grasp. However, as he placed his hand on the doorknob, a small part of his heart said maybe. Maybe she’ll be there, curled up on the bed or in the chair she had taken to reading in when the messenger wasn’t active. Maybe she was there. Maybe she hadn’t abandoned him. He pushed open the door.

                Empty. He hated that this crushed him. He had known, but let himself get his hopes up. He wandered in, taking in the room as it had been since he had introduced her to his Savior. The bed unmade, the flowers they had gathered from the garden, neatly sitting in a vase. It was almost as if she could walk in at any moment.

                He paused as he realized that the room no longer smelled as strongly of her; the floral scents of the flowers had taken over. He wandered over to the armoire, deciding that the scent on the clothes in the closet wouldn’t have faded away so fast. It would be as if she were still there.

                He pulled open the closet doors.

                Not empty.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really excited with all the feedback this has received so far. I'm going to try and keep a Sunday update schedule, but honestly, no promises. Unfortunately thesis work has to take precedence over this. 
> 
> Also! I always use Mc 2, so that's what Cloud is based on.

Cloud… was here? His Savior had said she was gone. Had left with V and the redhead. He took a deep breath, still staring at the figure huddled in the armoire. It wasn’t the first time he had had hallucinations, maybe this was just his mind refusing to believe that she had left him.  He started to reach for her, but stopped himself. If he didn’t touch her maybe she would stay there (what did it say about himself that he hallucinated the woman he loved in a closet).

                “Ray?” He jumped as her voice pulled him out of his thoughts. Looking back down at her, he saw her blue eyes staring up at him. At least his hallucinations were accurate. But then she lurched out of the armoire, throwing her arms around him. Real.

                “The Savior said you were gone.” Was the only thing he could get out. Her warmth was pressed into his chest, in what he thinks is the first hug she had given him. His breathe shuddered out as he felt her cheek nuzzle him. “But you’re here.”

                “I promised you didn’t I?” His breathe caught again. She… stayed… for him? She didn’t abandon him? He felt the tears began to well up.

                “What happened?” He choked out. Despite having been the one to ask the question, he had a hard time focusing on her words over the sting of _she’s here she’s here she’s here she’s here_ racing through his mind.

                “Rika took me to see V. She wanted me to shame him. Make him feel like everything had done was pointless. That I had accepted the darkness? I don’t even know what that means.” She took a shuddering breath and looked up at him, but at the same time looked through him. “He was so drugged up Ray. He barely recognized me. It was scary.” She paused and her gaze finally sharpened on him. She started to struggle to get away from him.

                “Cloud? What’s wrong?” Despite not wanting to let her go, he did. She retreated back to the armoire. She looked nervous, pulling her hands up to her chest and fidgeting with her fingers.

                “She said that V had taken the Elixir of Salvation. That’s the thing you wanted me to take. Wasn’t it.”

                “Yes? It’s how you join Mint Eye. It’s how you find Paradise through salvation.” He was confused. He had taken the elixir too. Everyone here had. But at his words she looked slightly more distressed. He slowly reached out his hand to her, as if he was trying to not scare off a small animal. “Cloud. What’s wrong? You stayed. Don’t you want to join Mint Eye?”

                “No. I don’t want salvation. I don’t want to join Mint Eye.”

                “I don’t understand.” How could anyone not want salvation?

                “Ray. I’m not here for Mint Eye. I’m not here for Rika. I could have left. I could be long gone at this point,” He frowned at the idea. She had gotten close to both V and the redhead in the messenger. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if she had actually left. He hadn’t realize how empty he had felt until he had found her again. She continued to talk, a sad smile on her lips. He hated it. “I’m here for you. I’m here because I promised you I wouldn’t leave. I don’t plan on going back on that.”

                He honestly, still, could not comprehend. It baffled him. How could she want him over salvation? He wasn’t worth that. He wanted her to stay with him. Always. But how could he compare to the salvation that the Savior provided? He took a step back.

                “I need to let the Savior know you’re here.”

                “No!” She suddenly lurched forward, grabbing his arm. “She’s going to be mad at me for not agreeing with her against V. She won’t let me stay with you. If you let her know I’m here, I might never see you again.” Ray looked at her, and saw the true fear flitting across her face. She was truly afraid of the Savior? He wanted that fear to go away. Wanted to protect her from anything that ever made her feel this way. But… She was scared of his Savior.

                “I… I need to think.” He said quietly. He could feel a headache coming on. It was going to be a rough one. But he could feel the tears well up in his own eyes as he saw the betrayed look in her’s. “I’m sorry. I won’t tell her. I just… Need to think. I’m so sorry.” He repeated. He needed to get out. He could almost hear the aggressive him mocking him for crying. He turned and basically fled the room. Headed toward his own quarters where he could curl into a ball, not unlike how he had found Cloud, until everything made sense again.

~

                She felt panic rise up in her as she watched Ray run away. She had fucked up. She was fucked. Holy shit, she was fucked. She should have gone with V and Seven. But they were miles away at this point. She was thankful for that at least. V didn’t need to be here. V needed to be as far away from here as possible.

                She felt her phone vibrate, snapping her out of her pacing frenzy. It was Seven.

_From: Seven_

_Are you okay?_

                She heard a hysterical laugh escape her. If only he knew. If only he knew that she had possibly just made the worst decision in her short life. She had only known Ray like ten minutes longer than she had known the RFA members. And so far the RFA hadn’t lied to her. Why didn’t she go.

                Even with the possibility that Ray was going to tell Rika, even with her broken trust, a small part of her chest ached at the idea of leaving. She hated herself for that.

_To: Seven_

_I’m fine. Stay safe. Take care of V._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me at theglowqueen.tumblr.com or edgelord-saeran.tumblr.com


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh, not the most satisfied with the beginning of this one, but oh well. It needed to happen. 
> 
> Also, surprise random ship might happen, so look out for that *finger guns*

The next time she had opened the messenger, she saw that between to two hackers, the app was barely functioning. _You literally had one job._ Hello intrusive thoughts. Cloud huffed. She had told Seven that she would try to keep Ray away from the messenger, but between then and now a lot of things had gone to shit. She tried okay?

_To: Seven_

_I’m sorry_

                She stared at her phone. How was she going to fix this? Rika would probably force her to drink the elixir if she found out that she was here, and at the moment, Ray was wildcard. She wanted to go find him, but she wasn’t sure what her presence would do for him at the moment. Rika was his base, and Cloud was basically ripping that out from underneath of him. She startled slightly as her phone began to vibrate.

                “Hello?”

                “Cloud!” Seven. “Are you okay? Why are you apologizing?” Ah. She had made him concerned.

                “I’m fine. I didn’t keep him away from the messenger. I messed up.”

                “Ahhhh…” She had to stop herself from laughing at his relieved sigh. “That’s not really you’re fault. I had to cut off the app anyway so we couldn’t be tracked. He didn’t want to let it go.”

                “Cut off the app?”

                “I didn’t tell you about that did I.” His voice suddenly went serious.

                “It’s fine. I know you’ve been busy. Running away from a cult leaves little time to talk to people.” She tried to keep it light. Joking about the situation was how she was keeping herself sane. To be honest, she wasn’t sure what she would have done if she had lost all contact with the others. She didn’t want to think about it right now. “How is V doing?”

                “He’s doing better. Shoot. The messenger is flaking. I’m going to pass you off.”

                “What?” She heard an awkward shuffle before a new voice began to speak.

                “Hello?”

                “V! Are you doing any better?”

                “I’m fine.” Cloud heard a disbelieving snort in the background. “But Cloud. I am so s-“

                “Stop.”

                “Cloud?”

                “Don’t do this V. I made this choice.”

                “You wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for me.” V insisted.

                “You do realize that I was the one who came here. I’m the one who decided to stay here. I’m not going to let you take credit for my shitty decisions.” V was quiet for a second, and Cloud continued. “V. Don’t come back here. Stay safe. Stay far from here. Far from Rika. Please V.”

                “I- I can’t-” More awkward shuffling. A new voice.

                “Sorry Miss. You’re making my patient very distressed, so I’m gonna end this conversation here.” Cloud didn’t recognize the voice, but she guessed that this was the person that had snorted at V’s ‘I’m fine’ earlier.

                “I understand. Um… Not to be rude, but who is this?”

                “Vanderwood. I work with Seven.”

                “Ah. Okay. Please. Take care of V. Don’t let him come back here.” She heard Vanderwood laugh slightly.

                “Lucky for you, I’ve become slightly fond of him. I’ve got him.”

                “Thank you.” Cloud said quietly. She didn’t know Vanderwood, but Seven trusted him and so would she. “Hopefully, we’ll speak again.” She heard him make a soft noise of confirmation and with a light “Goodbye Miss” he was gone.

She stared blankly at her phone. She was on her own again. She wanted to see Ray. Soon.

~

                Ray went to visit his Savior. Sitting by himself hadn’t helped him any, and despite Cloud’s fear, he needed to talk to his Savior. However, he hesitated outside his Savior’s room. He wouldn’t let her know that Cloud was here. At first at least. His Savior would forgive Cloud. He knew it. Then he and Cloud and his Savior could stay together in paradise together.

                He knocked on the door, only coming in after the quiet “Enter.” She smiled when she saw him in the room, making him feel more comfortable.

                “Ah. Ray. Please forgive me for yesterday. I’m feeling much better today.”

                “There is no need to ask for forgiveness, my Savior. It is all his fault.” Ray tried to comfort her. Her sadness hurt him. The woman who had lead him to such freedom should never have this much pain. The memory of Cloud’s frightened face flashed across his memory. “Savior? May I ask something?”

                “Of course Ray. You can always speak your mind around me.” His Savior said, smiling gently.

                “What will happen when we get them back? Cloud and V? What will happen with them?” He watched as the grin on her face started to shift into something more maniacal.

                “Oh Ray. They’ll never leave again. They’ll stay with me always. Of course, they’ll need to take the elixir. But not so much this time.” She said narrowing her eyes at him, causing Ray to flinch. “And then. Then they’ll feed my darkness. Their light will make my darkness so much stronger. This way it’ll never die.”

                “Savior? What about Cloud? You said… You said she could stay with me.” His’s savior’s eyes lost the faraway look as she focused on him.

                “Oh. Ray. She’ll have to stay with me for a while.” Ray felt his breath catch in his chest. His Savior wasn’t going to let him keep Cloud. She was going to take Cloud away from him. He could barely hear her continue over his racing thoughts. “Once she’s settled in, she can come back to you. However, I’m not certain how long that will take.” She reached out and gently touched his face, speaking sweetly. “I’m sorry Ray.”

                He could hardly breathe. Rika turned and grabbed a bottle off of the table next to her throne. Elixir. She pressed it into his hand, and without thinking, he drank. He looked blankly at the empty bottle he held. His Savior was happy with him. He could see it on her face. But would Cloud be upset with him? Probably. He almost felt like crying. His Savior gently ran her hand through his hair before nodding at him, a clear dismissal. He turned, wanting to see Cloud. Needing to see Cloud. In the haze of the elixir that was slowly coming over him, he barely avoided running out of the room.

~

                Sitting on her bed, Cloud jumped as the door flew open. It was Ray, his eyes wild and tears clearly flowing down his cheeks. Throwing the door closed behind him, he lurched towards her.

                “Cloud.” His voice was rough and she shuffled over to the edge of her bed to catch him before he hit the ground.

                “Ray. What’s happening?” She tugged him over so he could lie on her bed. He curled up around her, scrunching himself up into a ball. She gently reached over and pulled his shoes off. At his confused look, very clear even through his tears, she flushed before mumbling “Don’t want to get the bed dirty.”

                For a moment, he looked even more upset. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He started to repeat, pressing his face into her shoulder.

                “Ray.” Cloud said more insistently, pushing him back so she could look him in the face. “What happened? Please. Tell me.”

                “I didn’t think. I took the elixir. The elixir’s effects scared you. I don’t want you to be scared of me.” He looked panicked at the thought. She gently ran her hand though his hair.

                “You won’t scare me. I’m not mad at you.” He looked slightly comforted by this, before he sat up a little straighter.

                “The Savior doesn’t know you’re here. I didn’t tell her.” He looked almost eager for praise, and she couldn’t help but give it to him.

                “Thank you.” She said pulling him into a hug. He melted into her arms, before flinching back. “Are you okay?”

                “My head.” He said, his face screwed up in a wince. “Hurts.”

                “Stay here.” She said quietly. “I don’t want you to suffer alone.” Through his pained face, he gave her a small smile, before pressing back into her hug.

“Sleep.” She said quietly. “I’m not leaving you.”

She laid there. Feeling his breathing even out, she found herself glad that he could sleep, even through the pain of a migraine. She felt slightly more secure. He hadn’t told Rika, which meant that he was on her side. Right? Vanderwood and Seven were keeping V safe, and she was going to keep Ray safe.

She could sleep tonight.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Sorry this is a bit late. I normally write over the weekend, but my mom came up, so I didn't have any opportunity. 
> 
> Also, I will get around to responding to comments at some point. Just know that I greatly appreciate every one of them.

She could breathe when she woke up. Something that hadn’t happened since V had arrived and shattered what she had known to be real at the time. Now that she thought about it, this was the first time she had slept in this bed since then. Rika had kept her close, trying to get Cloud to accept her darkness. She frowned slightly. Why does she need to ruin the best sleep she’s had in almost a week.

She shifted to sit up, but felt arm constrict around her middle. Ray. His action caused her to smile slightly. She ran her hand through his hair, which was apparently comforting enough for him to loosen his arms just enough for her to sit up against the backboard. Ray curled his face into Cloud’s stomach, still asleep. The childish action created a warm feeling in her chest, and she pulled out her phone, quietly snapping a picture of the sleeping Ray. Without thinking about it, she opened the messenger and sent the picture to Seven.

_To: Seven_

_He’s a lot easier to keep in check when he’s asleep_

                She set her phone down on the side table, and leaned down to whisper to Ray.

                “Hey. I’m gonna go try and find us food”

                “Noooo.” Ray grumbled, tightening his grip.

                “Oh shush.” She laughed, petting his hair again. “I’ll be back. Is your head doing any better?”

                “Ngh. Not really.” Ray whispered.

                “I’ll try to find you some pain meds too.” Shifting her way out of his arms, she stood up. “Go back to sleep. I’ll be right back.” At his nod, she made her way to the armoire, pulling out the believer’s cloak she had found during her brief stint in the closet. Pulling it on, and pulling the hood up, she left the room.

~

                Ray had wanted to go back to sleep. He really had tried, wanting to listen to Cloud, but her phone kept vibrating. He wanted to ignore it, but the vibration on the wood was just making his head hurt so much worse. He grabbed the phone off the side table, fully intending to tell the offending caller off. The contact icon stopped him. The redhead.

                Oh no. Why him? Why is he calling Cloud? Why does he have to ruin everything? His head began to throb. Ray didn’t want to talk to him. But he wanted him to stop calling. The vibration stopped, and for a moment, silence reigned in the room. The screen lit up again. The redhead. Again.

                _Let me talk to him._ Ray froze. He wasn’t supposed to be awake. His Savior had said that if he worked hard enough, he wouldn’t bother him, he’d stay asleep. _He’s not going to stop calling. I’ll talk to him. Just go to sleep._ Ray could feel his resolve crumbling. Cloud had told him to go back to sleep. But if he went to sleep, _he_ would show up, and he wasn’t sure how Cloud would react to him. _It’ll be fine. I’ll take care of her._

                “…ok.” Ray said quietly. Cloud would be okay, and he wouldn’t have to talk to the redhead.

~

                It had been so long since he had been awake. The dumbass had finally given him the chance to be awake again. And apparently, the first order of business was to talk to his dear sweet brother. Hitting the answer button, he placed the phone next to his ear without saying anything.

                “Cloud? Are you sure the hacker’s name is Ray? Please. I need to know.”

                “Unfortunately, she’s not here. But I am.”

                “Saeran?”

                “Somedays.”

                “Saeran. What happened? Rika said you were safe. That you were happy.”

                “Oh, I am happy. Happy with the Savior, and happy enough destroying your work.” There was a silence.

                “Did V know? Where you are?” He laughed.

                “He knew the Savior was alive didn’t he? There’s no way he couldn’t have known.” Silence again. “Have I ruined your perfect view of him? Oh, you must feel so _betrayed_.” He couldn’t keep his voice calm through the entirety of his sentence. “Now stop calling. She’s here, with me, and I’ll take excellent care of her.” and with his final words, he hung up. He had let his brother know he was there, but even so. Creating a rift between V and the other RFA members would be worth it. Everyone needed to know what a dirty liar the man was.

                He laid back on the bed. He knew that the crybaby had been afraid of Cloud’s reaction to him. He smirked to himself. Might as well test that. He felt a stab of pain in his head. “Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up, I’m awake right now. It’s your turn to sleep.”

~

                Cloud hummed softly as she shifted the door open. Her mission to find food had been successful. Hidden under her robe she had managed to smuggle a variety a fruit and had even snagged a few pastries. She wasn’t positive, but she was pretty sure Ray had a sweet tooth. The thing that she was most pleased about was the small bottle of Ibuprofen she had managed to find. It wouldn’t do much, but it would help somewhat with the migraines.

 

 She didn’t announce her arrival, not wanting to wake Ray up if he had actually managed to get back to sleep. But when she looked up, she saw him standing by the bed.

“Ray, you’re aw-” She started to say, but ducked, dropping the fruits she was holding, as the vase with the flowers they had collected shattered on the wall next to her head. Eyes growing wide, she saw a pleased smirk on Ray’s face, so out of place with everything she had known about him. “Ray, what the fuck??”

 

His eyebrows rose in surprise, but the smirk never left. “Oh, so the kitten does have a mouth on her.”

“What’s happening?” Cloud couldn’t figure out what else to say.

“I’m not Ray right now, sweetheart.” He sauntered over to where she was standing. She wanted to move so badly, but the fear from the smashed vase had iced her in place. “Ray’s sleeping. You’re dealing with me now."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a rough time with this chapter. But it's here, so that works.

                Seven stared at the picture on his phone. Saeran was with Cloud. Cloud, who was currently in Mint Eye. Saeran was in Mint Eye, and was apparently their hacker. He couldn’t just sit here. He needed answers.

               He threw open the door to the room that V and Vanderwood were in. At the sound of the door, V’s eyes cracked open from his location on the bed and Vanderwood look up from his position on the floor, back leaned up against the bed with a laptop rapidly cycling through security images.

                “You can stop checking those.” Seven spat out towards Vanderwood. At his surprised look, Seven continued. “I’ve found who I’m looking for.” He set his sights on V, shoving his phone at him, picture of Saeran clear on the screen. “Why is he there?”

                V’s eyes finally focused on the phone, face becoming upset. “Luciel, I-“

                “You knew. You knew and you didn’t tell me. Why V?” Seven couldn’t prevent his voice from raising.

                “I had to fix it. I promised to take care of him, and I failed.” V said quietly, not being able to look Seven in the eye. “I hadn’t realized it had gotten that bad.”

                “What do you mean? How long has it been like this?”

                “Rika and I, we got Saeran away from your mom. I think that saving Saeran triggered something in her.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “Saving him, it must have given her the idea for Mint Eye. Why just save one person when there are so many who need saving? I was so focused on myself, on Rika, I didn’t notice his blind devotion to her.” V laughed. “Now that I think about it, we were the same.”

                “Why didn’t you tell me? When you did notice that things had started to go wrong?” Even with the new revelations about Rika, he still had a hard time believing it. Gone was the beautiful lady from his childhood, who played with him in church and gave him food to sneak back to his brother. Even still, he didn’t understand how V didn’t notice, and on top of that, didn’t understand why he didn’t reach out to the rest of the RFA.

                “It was my fault. I didn’t notice. And despite everything she had done, I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s memories of her. I still loved her too much. At least, what I thought was love.” V finally looked up at Seven. “I wanted to protect you from my mistakes, and had to fix it.”

                “You don’t have to do these things alone. You have so much support from the rest of us, you know this.” For a brief second, Seven asked himself how this went from interrogating V about his brother to comforting and supporting V. At Seven’s words, V smiled faintly, the first smile Seven had seen from him since Rika had supposedly died.

                “I’m figuring this out. I seem to have multiple people telling me this recently.” V’s hand moved off of the bed, coming to rest on the top of Vanderwood’s head, expression gentle and fond.

                Seven couldn’t keep a straight face as a deep flush filled Vanderwood’s face. The other man stared resolutely at the screen of his laptop, refusing to look anywhere near Seven. Later, Seven decided. There were other things to deal with at the moment, no matter how juicy this interaction was.

                “We’re going to get them back.” Seven said. “We have an in with Cloud, and as soon as you’re detoxed and we have actual access to the messenger again, we’re getting help.”

                V nodded, agreeing to the plan, not arguing for once and pushing his martyr complex down. “We should let her know what’s going on. She’s been dragged too far into this. She at least deserves that.” Seven nodded, pulling out his phone as he turned to leave the room.

                “Sleep some more. You’re looking rough.” Seven said quietly, not turning back to see V’s reaction.

                As he walked, he typed out his message to Cloud, hoping that Saeran hadn’t taken the phone from her, praying that he would still be able to contact her.

~

_To: Cloud_

_Be careful_

_To: Cloud_

_His name isn’t Ray, it’s Saeran._

_To: Cloud_

_We’re going to get both of you out of there_

~

                In the end, it wasn’t fear for herself that finally spurred her into motion. It was the shattered vase on the floor, and the approaching feet.

                “Stay there!” She managed to spit out. The sound of her own voice bringing her back to herself. He paused for a second, grinning at her sudden yell, before starting to move forward again. “I’m serious. Stay. There.”

                “And why should I, kitten? Whatcha gonna do?” His grin was honestly starting to piss her off. It wasn’t the gentle, slightly dopey grin that Ray always had. This grin, from this not Ray, was mocking her. He knew he was fucking with her, and he was enjoying it.

                “If you come over here, you’re going to step on glass. _Somebody_ decided to throw a vase against the wall.” For a moment, his impossibly smug grin grew wider as she glared at him for the broken vase. “Plus, you’re barefoot. You’ll hurt yourself.”

                He looked down at his feet, almost as if he had been unaware of his shoeless state. His face suddenly warped into angered confusion. “I’m literally threatening you right now, and you’re concerned about me? What even are you?” She was honestly asking herself the same question, but despite what he was saying, he was Ray.

                “I’m going to walk over to you, and then we’re gonna talk.” Cloud said, picking her way over the broken glass. At this point, his smirk had dropped, suspicion clouding his features. She ignored this, making her way over to him, but stopping far enough away that she was pretty sure she could get away if he tried anything “You said that you’re not Ray. If that’s the case, who are you? What happened to Ray?”

                “He’s sleeping.” He said bluntly, before tapping his temple with his index finger. “He keeps complaining though. He’s not happy with the way I’m treating you. But it’s my turn, so I can do whatever the fuck I want to.”

                “While it’s “your turn”, what do I call you? The way it sounds, you don’t want to be called Ray.” Ray had multiple personalities. With all the other shit that had happened recently, this fit right in. He seemed surprised at her response.

                “Why aren’t you running? Why aren’t you afraid? You just learned that we’re bat shit crazy, and yet you’re still here. You’re less sane than we are, kitten.” She must not be following the script he had expected her to. Mocking her instead of answering her questions gave him control in the situation. She wasn’t sure how the conversation would go, but she needed answers.

                “I promised Ray I would stay, that I wouldn’t abandon him. Now, the same goes for you. No matter how stupid it might be, you’re stuck with me. What do I call you?” She repeated herself. His face was guarded as he listened to her, but it softened slightly when she repeated her promise.

                “I don’t have a name.” He said quietly. “I’m never awake long enough for one.”

                “Then is there anything you want to be called?” She pressed again. He may terrify her slightly, but he was a part of Ray. The way he reacted to her not following his expectations told her that, to a degree, he was testing her. If she could get a name out of him, it would be a small victory for her.

                She waited as he thought about it and watched as he inelegantly flopped backwards on the bed. She giggled at the sight. Prim and proper in his suit, his attire contradicted his actions. He focused onto her.

                “What are you laughing at?”

                Even under his sharp gaze, she couldn’t get the smile off of her face.

                “You.” She said softly. “You’re cute.”

                “I threw a vase at you. I’m not cute.” He pouted. The same pout that Ray had given her this morning. Oddly enough, this pout comforted her the most. The two were so different, practically two sides of a coin, but the shared action showed, they were the same. He tucked his hands beneath his head, before turning his head and looking at her. “I want to be called Saeran. It’ll piss him and the Savior off, but that’s who I am. Saeran” He said the name as is it hadn’t been said in a long time.

                “Alright Saeran, It’s nice to meet you.” He snorted at her statement, but she continued. “And since our breakfast is now full of glass, can I trust you to go get more? I’ll clean up the mess while you’re gone.”

                His aggressive attitude was almost gone, his stance relaxed and comfortable in her presence. Huffing, he pushed himself up off the bed and slipped back in his shoes. Standing fully, he began to make his way over toward the door, but not until he had reached out and patted her on the head.

                “Yeah, kitten. I’ll be back. This isn’t the first secret I’ve kept from the Savior.” And with that, he was gone.

                Cloud let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. Without thinking about it, she reached over to where her phone was, noticing that she had notifications. She read the messages from Seven and laughed.

_To: Seven_

_He ruined your surprise. Found out a couple of minutes ago_

_To: Seven_

_Take care of V first. I’ll take care of us_


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reactions to the surprise pairing was great and I love it. Still, let me know what you think!
> 
> Also, there might be something a bit triggering in this one, so warnings can be found in the end notes.

                As Cloud picked up the glass littering the floor, she tried to figure out exactly how she had gotten here. It’d been what… 9 days since Ray had first contacted her? She didn’t remember her thought process from the day they had met. And then she was here, with a man who seemed to want her attention more than anything in the world, who was gentle and sweet and so excited that she was there.

                She does remember the warmth that she felt once she was here. She didn’t remember ever being wanted the way that Ray had, and it made her feel good. All she had to do was test a game. She supposes that his reactions to his own AI’s should have tipped her off that they weren’t real AIs. If they weren’t real, he shouldn’t have been so jealous of her interactions with them. Instead she had written it off of boyish possessiveness. So she had reassured him that he was the most important, and since then she had stuck to that decision.

                Even when everything began to go to shit. Even when she had been separated from him and Rika had tried to take her attention. Even when V had shown up, shattering the previous days from what she thought she knew. Strangely enough, even through the phone call that she had made the mistake to make. She still didn’t know fully what had happened between Ray and V in that dungeon and if she was being honest, she didn’t want to ever know. She had said that he wouldn’t scare her, but that phone call, the things that she didn’t know had happened, terrified her. And now there was Saeran, who threw a fucking vase at her head. He was still a wildcard. A really fucking angry wildcard.

                She finished with the glass and went to sit down cross-legged in the middle of the bed. She pull out her phone, needing to find something to distract her from her thoughts. She somehow had notifications from the messenger, as broken as it currently was. She tried to ignore that there was nothing from home. Same as always. Opening up the messenger, she was hit with a barrage of emails from what appeared to be random… things? Why was the planet Pluto emailing her? And a bowl of Udon? Were these supposed to be the guests for the party? Was there still a party happening? It couldn’t hurt to respond.

                While she looked over the emails, Saeran walked back in. Looking up, she saw that he had actual breakfast foods, and not just some fruit that he had smuggled under a robe.

                “Hey.” She greeted him. Despite him being gone for only a short period of time and her having a mini crisis over him, she had missed his presence. Her small smile was returned by an almost embarrassed look. He walked over to the bed and placed the tray in front of her. He started to move to sit on the bed as well before wincing suddenly, then taking off his shoes.

                “You okay?” Cloud asked, caught off guard by his sudden pain.

                “Yeah. I was reminded that you don’t want shoes on the bed.” He said with a slight frown. Shaking his head, he continued, “I hope you like pancakes.”

                “It’s better than glass filled fruit.” She said, keeping her tone light. He rolled his eyes.

                “You’re not gonna let that go, are you?”

                “You threw a vase at my head. So no.” He huffed, spearing part of a pancake with his fork.

                “Eat. It’s gonna get cold.” Cloud didn’t even bother to hide her smile. He cared, at least to a degree. As she started to eat, she remembered the emails.

                “Hey Saeran?”

                “Hm?”

                “Could you help me answer these emails?”

                “What for?”

                “The party. I think that’s what these are for.”

                “You’re still doing that?” He frowned, and she realized that he hadn’t known that she was still on the messenger.

                “It can’t hurt. Though it would be helpful if the messenger actually functioned again.” He pursed his lips, made all the more comical as, by the way his cheeks were bulging, Cloud was pretty sure he had almost an entire pancake in his mouth. He shrugged at her request, before chewing so he could respond.

                “It being broken keeps you here.”

                “I keep me here.” She said, light mood instantly being lost. “How many times do I have to say it before it gets through that thick skull of yours?”

                “People don’t stay. No matter what they say.” He frowned. “I want to trust you, but we’ve been hurt too many times by the people we’re closest to.”

                “I don’t know how much input you had on this, but Ray picked me, and I’m forever grateful. I’m going to say something, and I don’t want either of you to get mad.” At his imploring look, she continued. “You saved me from myself.”

                “What do you mean?” Cloud began to curl up, wrapping her arms around her knees. She had remembered her motivation for coming here. Why she had gone head first into this rabbit hole of Mint Eye.

                “That was the last time I was going to go to that café. That was the last time I was going to do anything really. Unless someone has broken into my apartment, there’s still a bottle of painkillers waiting for me there.” Saeran’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something, but she stopped him. “Please. I need to say this.”

                “I was so numb. I just… didn’t want to exist. And then I got that call from you and I thought ‘Hey, why the fuck not’ and here I am.”

                “You came because you were suicidal. You didn’t care what happened to you.”

                “Yup. But now, now I feel. I’m happy, I’m scared, but I’m not numb, and I can never thank you enough for that.” She finished quietly.

                “You were gonna leave before we ever got to meet.” Saeran said shakily.

                “But I didn’t.” She hated the distraught look on his face. She knew she had put it there, but she was convincing herself that it was something he needed to know.

                He stood up abruptly, picking up the breakfast tray as he went, making a beeline for the door, leaving before she could even think to say anything. Looking at the closed door, she felt the sinking numbness fill her chest. She had run him off. He didn’t want her or to deal with her problems. She curled tighter into a ball, tucking her head down, wishing that she didn’t exist.

                She wasn’t sure how long she stayed like that. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, but Saeran returned. Crawling onto the bed, he tugged on her arm, pulling her out of the stance she had taken, and pressing her into his side, arm curled around her shoulders. She finally looked up and saw that he had a laptop on him.

                “I thought we were gonna look at those emails.” Saeran said softly, pressing her phone into her hands. “I’m gonna work on the messenger though. I’ve put that off long enough.”

                “Ya gonna fix it for me?” Cloud asked softly

                “Mmhm. Just for you, kitten.” She sighed, snuggling into his chest before opening her emails on her phone.

                “I’m going to be honest, I’m not sure where they found most of these people. How do I respond to a literal dragon?”

                “What?”

          They stayed that way, Saeran on his laptop and Cloud on her phone. Their goals were different, but they were together. And at the moment, that’s what mattered.  
~

                 In the end, it slipped Saeran’s mind. When he had run out to get his laptop, needing to get back to Cloud as quickly as possible, he had found the believers in a state of confusion. No one could find the Savior. She wasn’t in the normal spots, and both her rooms and the garden were empty.

                The Savior was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: MC talks about her plans for a suicide attempt, though it never actually happens, nor does she get close to doing it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! just wanted to make a quick note. chen-meilin on tumblr pointed out that it looked like I had made Seven forgive V almost instantly and I realized that I had done a pretty shitty job of explaining my thought process so here's my response:
> 
> "To be honest, I’ve kinda always read Seven as kind of flaky, so with motivation he’s 100% ready to fight, but it fizzles out quickly. Seven hasn’t exactly forgiven V yet, but he also knows that there are more important things to do than be confrontational with V who isn’t exactly in the best state to give Seven a full explanation. 
> 
> I probably could have explained that better in story, but oh well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯"
> 
> So yeah. Please comment! It's the only way I know these things. Let me know what you think!

                Saeran knew that Ray had to wake up again soon. There wasn’t anything preventing it, no matter how long he wanted to be here. Saeran was tired. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he had been awake for too long. He was afraid though. He wanted Cloud. She wasn’t afraid of him. Everyone else was. The believers were (he heard the whispers whenever he was awake. _He’s_ _here. Get out of the way_ ), Ray was (why else would he try so hard to bury him in his subconscious?), Saeran was even pretty sure the Savior was. He could hear her warn Ray when he went back to sleep. _Don’t let Saeran take over._ More like stay under her control. Before Cloud, he accepted this. That was his normal. Ray was the loved one, while Saeran was feared. Their dynamic was one that had happened since they had both been in existence.

                But then came Cloud, throwing a wrench into everything. She managed to pull Ray away from his blind devotion, something that Saeran hadn’t thought was possible. She didn’t run from them, despite his best efforts. She promised to stay. What would happen when Ray wake up? Would she prefer him? He almost found it pathetic with how jealous of himself he was.

                From their position on the bed, her head still pillowed on his chest, he heard the noises of people out in the hallway, and without thinking, pulled his jacket off and wrapping it over Cloud’s head, shoving her flat onto the bed.

                “Wha-“

                “Don’t. Move.” Saeran hissed. She immediately froze. Just in time for a believer to burst in the room, barely a glance spared for the very obvious lump in the bed.

                “The Savior! We can’t find her!”

                “What do you mean you can’t find her?” Saeran was cautious for a moment. The Savior hadn’t said anything about going anywhere. He could admit that he wasn’t the most up to date on what the savior was doing though. Both he and Ray had been… preoccupied.

                “She’s not in any of her normal places, and none of us can get into the security room to see what happened.” The believer hesitated for a moment before continuing, looking at the lump. “Not all of us have had time for such…frivolities.”

                “You want to say that while looking me in the face?” Saeran stood up, placing the laptop still running the script for the messenger aside, before getting directly in the believer’s face. He could almost see the exact moment when the believer realized that they weren’t talking to Ray. “Even if you were talking to who you thought you were, who the hell do you think you are, questioning me like that? Even though you don’t deserve anything out of me, I’ll let you in on something. The Savior has me on a different assignment right now. One that you’ve so rudely interrupted me from. But of course. I’ll come look at the feed. In the name of the Savior.”

                The believer, staring resolutely at the ground, returned the phrase before turning and fleeing from the room. Saeran turned back to bed and watched as Cloud’s blonde head popped up from underneath his jacket. “Rika’s gone?” He had to prevent himself from laughing at her disheveled state, but held it in.

                “Sounds like it. I’m going to go see what’s happening.” He hesitated before leaving. “I might not be me when I come back. Ray will most likely have woken up again by then. I know I didn’t make the… best first impression… But please. Don’t forget about me.”

                Her eyes grew soft at his request and she nodded. “I won’t. Do what you need to do. Ignoring something drastic, I’ll be here.” He nodded and as if on impulse, walked back to her, closing his eyes and pressing his forehead to hers. He took a deep breath as if to center himself.

                “Goodbye, kitten.” He whispered, pressed his lips to her forehead, and turned and left the room. Time to figure out where the Savior went.

~

                The second Saeran left, Cloud lurched for her phone. She opened the messenger, still broken, and pressed Seven’s contact.

                “Please pick up. Please pick up. For the love of God please pick up.” Her chant was her prayers. It took four calls for him to finally pick up. “Seven!”

                “What’s wrong? Four calls isn’t a typical casual call situation.” Seven sounded calm. “By the way, the messenger seems to be fixing itself. You have anything to do with that?”

                “Technically yes, but that’s not the problem right now! Rika is gone. No one here knows where she is.” Silence. “Seven?”

                “How did no one notice she was gone?”

                “We don’t even know how long she’s been gone. We just know that she is. Saeran is checking that right now.”

                “So he is Saeran!”

                “What are you talking about?”

                “Ray is Saeran. My brother. The picture tipped me off.”

                “I didn’t know. I didn't even know you had a brother. He hasn’t said anything about it. I’ll keep him safe, Seven. We’re going to get out of here. Did V know he was here?”

                “That’s… something that will be dealt with later. For now, we need to deal with this.”

                “Right. If anything else happens, I’ll call you again. Just wanted you to have a heads up. And we have been working on the messenger. I may have gotten him to do that. He probably didn’t do anything bad? Probably. Sorry.”

                “We’ll see what happens, but for now, we should hang up. Call in case anything else happens.” Seven sounded cautious, but she understood why. Saeran messing with the messenger hadn’t created the best results, but this time, she trusted him. She gave confirmation, gave well wishes to the others, and hung up.

                Now all there was left to do was to wait for Saeran. Or Ray. His parting words made it sound so final, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She definitely cared about the both of them. They were the same coin, and she wouldn’t leave either of them. So she waited. Not like she could do much else at the moment if she was being honest. She wasn’t even supposed to be here.

~

                She wasn’t sure how long she had waited (this was turning into a trend she realized), before her phone made a sudden sound. The messenger was back up. Was that what Saeran had been doing for so long? She barely had a chance to look at the app before the caller ID popped up. Why was V calling her?

                “Hello?”

                “Did you know?” Not V. Vanderwood?

                "What?"

                “Did. You. Know.” He was angry, but she wasn’t going to take his shit.

                “Maybe if you gave me any idea of what was going on I might be able to help you.”

                “Did you know that Rika was going to come here?”

                “No? I told Seven earlier that we knew she was gone, but we didn’t know where she went. She found you guys? What happened?” She could hear Vanderwood hesitate.

                “She stabbed him. She stabbed V.”

                Shit.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter, but that happens. It doesn't help that I threw apple cider on my keyboard like a moron, but what can you do ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> I'm not sure how many more chapters this is going to have to be honest. We're rapidly approaching the end of V's route, and I might stop there but who knows. I was also thinking about doing a side V/Vanderwood story, but idk. Let me know what you guys think.

                V had been stabbed by Rika. The stars seemed to align just to fuck with V. Vanderwood didn’t say much else, just that they were rushing him to the hospital. Cloud could understand why the information was tight. Rika had no way of knowing where they could have been. The only thing she could have used was the messenger. The messenger that Cloud had convinced Saeran to fix. It was the only way she could have figured out where they had gone. She doubted that Seven’s safe house would be so obvious to find.

                Saeran. Fuck. She needed to find him. It didn’t really matter if she was seen at this point. Rika was gone and Cloud quite frankly didn’t care if Rika figured out where she was. Cloud reached for the robe, figuring that if she at least had the robe on, the other believers would be more willing to direct her. As she yanked the hood up, her phone began to vibrate again. It was Rika. And she had access to the messenger. Fuck. Ray. Why.

                “Rika.”

                “Cloud! How have you been? It’s been so long since we’ve talked. I’ve missed it.” Rika spoke as if they were old high school friends.

                “I haven’t.” Cloud mumbled. Rika made a sad sound, but before she could say anything, Cloud continued. “What do you want Rika? I imagine this isn’t a pleasure call.”

                “You’re correct.” Rika said, her friendly tone not dropping once. “I wanted to know where you are. Imagine my surprise when I saw V and Luciel, but not you? Unless you’ve suddenly turned into a man with a fondness for leopard print. That would explain things.”

                “You and I both know that’s not how it is.”

                “Oh Cloud. I don’t know why you’re being so cold. Wasn’t I always good to you?” Rika’s sing-song voice was really pissing her off.

                “You’re acting like you didn’t just stab my friend, not to mention you’ve been manipulating both him and Ray for years.”

                “I only did what they wanted. Gave them salvation. Saved so many others. Why can’t you see the good I’ve done?” Cloud was silent. There was no arguing with her. There wasn’t anything she could say to change Rika’s mind. “Oh, by the way, if you get the chance, thank Ray for me. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to talk to the RFA. It will be nice to reconnect. He’ll like to hear from you.”

                Cloud was silent. Rika had just confirmed her fears. Ray had helped Rika. As if interpreting that Cloud's silence was caused by feeling betrayed, Rika continued. 

                “Did you really think the short time you spent with him had swayed his faith?” Rika was mocking her now. “I am his _Savior._ You're just a random girl we picked up to help further Mint Eye.” She sighed. “You could have been useful, staying at my side. But instead you ran, just like the other traitor.”

                “Hey, Rika.” Cloud said after a moment silence, trying to digest the irony of Rika's words. “Do you still want to know where I am?”

                “I was confident you were with V. So imagine my surprise when I find him attached to another man’s arm. But yes, Cloud. I am curious. Surely they didn’t take the time to drop you off somewhere?”

                “I never left.”

                “What?” It obviously wasn’t the answer Rika was expecting.

                “I’m still here. I never left with Seven and V. I’ve been here, the entire time. Right under your nose and you never noticed.”

                Rika didn’t respond. “Please Rika. Leave them alone. Let them go.”

                “We will speak later. Don’t forget, Cloud.” And she hung up.

                As soon as Rika hung up, Cloud was moving again. She needed to find Ray. The fact that Rika knew where she was something that she would deal with later.

~

                It took her longer than she would have liked, but after realizing that she still had no idea what the layout of the building was, Cloud had to find someone to ask.

                An easier task said than done today, apparently. The halls were almost empty, a stark difference from the normal hustle and bustle of the believers. It was almost like the building had been abandoned.

                Eventually she found one, arms full boxes. After giving her instructions, the believer hurried away.

                She finally found him, tucked away in a computer lab. To others, it might seem like he was talking to himself, but Cloud knew that Ray was talking to Saeran.

                “We have to do this… No. We can’t bring her into this… We have to listen to the Savi- ah!" A flinch. "What happens if we don’t? She saved us… We’re going to do this for her… We’ll talk about that later.”

                “Ray?” He suddenly whipped around, and stared at her. He looked conflicted, as if he wasn’t sure whether or not he should have been happy to see her. He flinched slightly, head in pain, before lurching over and wrapping her in his arms.

                “Cloud. I’m so sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've written so much more for this than i have my thesis and idk what i'm doing with my life


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to delete the author's note, but apparently deleting it would also delete some of the comments that you guys sent me, and I haven't gotten the chance to respond, so it'll sit there for a bit until I figure out what to do with it.
> 
> Anyways, as promised, here is the next chapter. Thank you so much for the comments. I love hearing what you guys think and it really makes my day when I get feedback. Again, thank you so much and I hope you enjoy!
> 
> EDIT: I've replied to the comments that I could on the author's note, so if you comment on this one and I hadn't gotten back to you on that one, I will definitely do that. But author's note is gone, so the flow is back again. Thanks you guys :)

                Despite wanting to pull Ray in close as well, Cloud stopped herself. Ray, Saeran, had led Rika straight to V and the others. She pushed him back by his shoulders, holding him still.

                “What is going on, Ray? What did you do?” Ray hesitated, but slowly answered.

                “Not long after Saeran got here, I woke up. The switch is… disorienting. The Savior called not long after that and… I just did what she said. I didn’t even think about it…” Ray wouldn’t look her in the eye. It was making her mad. Maybe Rika had been right. She hadn’t made as much of an impact on Ray as she thought. Cloud’s grip on Ray’s shoulders lessened as she began to get lost in her thoughts. Ray’s hands grabbed her own, bringing her mind back to the forefront. He was finally looking at her, eyes earnest, begging her to believe him. “Cloud. I didn’t know what she was going to do. I- It Just…” He was clearly getting more and more worked up. He whispered, “What do I do?”

                “Ray, tell me what she told you to do. Don’t leave me in the dark. I can help you.”

                “No.” He whimpered, shaking his head. “I don’t want you to have anything to do with things that the Savior is involved in. She’s hurt you. She will hurt you. I don’t want that.”

                “Don’t take that decision from me.” Cloud finally gripped Ray’s hands back and gave him a small grin. “You’re stuck with me, remember?”

                He smiled back weakly, before nodding. “You noticed how the building is almost evacuated right? The Savior knows about the RFA’s plan to send a raid force after Mint Eye.” Cloud blinked in surprise. News to her. “This compound is rigged with explosives. If this building is gone, so is all the evidence of Mint Eye.”

                “So Rika wants you to destroy it.” Ray nodded, before looking away. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.”

                “You need to leave. There’s a bag you can pack in your room.” He let go of her hands, moving to another part of the room, before returning and handing her something. Car keys? “I want you to get as far away as you can before this place goes up.” His voice was blank, an odd mixture that was neither Ray nor Saeran.

                “Wait. The way you said that… You’re not planning on coming with me, are you?” His silence and blank stare said everything. Cloud felt her eyes well up. Dammit. Not right now frustration tears. “I literally just said that you’re stuck with me. Why are you trying to send me away?”

                “I meant what I said earlier. I don’t want you to be involved with anything the Savior is involved with. That also means me. You’ll be safer this way.” Cloud opened her mouth to argue, but Ray cut her off. “I can’t say no to her. I gave her those coordinates without a second thought. I should have realized. I’m afraid Cloud. You mean so much to me, and I’m afraid of what could happen if she says otherwise. Go home, Cloud. Live your life, safe from me and safe from her.”

                “You can break from her control, Ray.” Cloud said, tears barely held back. At his disbelieving look, Cloud continued. “You never told her I was here, despite her wanting me along with V. You’re gonna make it, and you’ll have me. I’m not leaving you. If it ever came down to it, I would fight her for you.” Ray snorted and Cloud grinned before sobering up. “Regardless, if you stay here, you die. And if you think I can leave knowing that, you’re a lot dumber than I thought. You are a part of my life now. A part that I never want to get rid of.” Her tears had spilled over, but she was in good company. Ray was crying too.

                “I don’t understand. How you’re so unwilling to let me go, despite all the things I’ve done.” Ray was standing right in front of her, and it was easy for her to reach up and pull his face close to her’s.

                “It’s because I love you, silly.” Cloud said softly, and then kissed him.

                Despite the very obvious lead up, Ray still seemed surprised. Cloud pulled back and saw how Ray was staring at her in wonder. She felt her face flush, but before she could say anything, he pressed his lips back on hers.

                It was sloppy, and made it very clear that Ray had little experience. But neither did Cloud, so what did it really matter?

                A moment after they broke apart, Cloud spoke again. “You’re coming with me. I’m not letting you go.”

                “Okay.” Ray said softly, a soft grin gracing his face.

                “So what are we gonna do?”

                Ray hummed slightly before answering. “I’ll have to rewrite part of the code so it can be set off remotely, but it’s doable.”

                “We’re gonna do it. We’re not gonna let her control us.” Cloud grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet, her giddiness needing some form of outlet. She handed him the car key back. “I’m going to go pack stuff for us. Give me a list of specific stuff you need so I can make sure to grab it.”

                She started to make her way to the door, before suddenly turning back and kissing Ray again.  

                “Don’t forget that I love you while I’m gone.” She said smiling. At the dopey smile she received in return, she left the room.

~

                **I told you she wouldn’t leave us**

_So you were right for once_

**I can be trusted**

**** _Sometimes_

**Sometimes**

~

                As Cloud made her way back to the room, she pulled out her phone, intending to contact Seven, or even Jumin since the messenger was up again, to update them on the situation. The app loaded, and she paused as the number bubble for her email popped up. The guests for the party.

                “Oh shit.” Some of the people she had responded to had accepted the invitation to the party.

                She dialed Seven.

                “Quick question.”

                “Hi Seven, how are you doing? The weather sure is nice isn’t it?” Seven responded to her unorthodox greeting.

                “I’m sorry, but this is kinda urgent.” Seven was instantly serious.

                “What’s wrong?”

                “Is the party still happening? Cause the last time I was on the messenger with everyone, Jumin seemed pretty insistent that it would be happening.”

                “Probably not? A lot has happened recently. With the drugging, the kidnapping, and the stabbing, the party hasn’t been too high on most people’s lists.”

                “Well then. Um. How do I say this.”

                “Cloud.”

                “I may have gotten some guests for the party.”

                “For the party that may or may not be happening.”

                “Yes.”

                “How many?”

                “Sixteen.”

                “How the fuck, Cloud.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case you didn't see, I put an edit in the last chapter's note at the beginning, so check that out.
> 
> Also, there will most likely be a two to three week break between this chapter and the next. I'm in my last two weeks of college and holy shit, thesis combined with exam week doesn't leave a lot of time. But, I'm graduating!! In two weeks!! Holy fuck.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter and remember, each comment will keep me slightly more alive during the up coming weeks :P

                Seven’s deadpan response cause Cloud to laugh. How the fuck indeed.

                “Hey, guess who I got to come?” Cloud needled him.

                “Who, Cloud?” Seven seemed to be playing along with her for the moment.

                “The former planet Pluto, Santa, a vampire, and C. Like the programming language.” After each guest she listed, Cloud could hear Seven very quietly go “what the fuck” under his breath. She laughed again. “And that’s only four of them!”

                “Not to put a damper on things,” Seven started, “But you seem to be in high spirits. What’s going on?”

                While recent events had definitely put Cloud on cloud nine, no pun intended, Seven’s question instantly sobered her up. How did she explain what had happened? She had fallen in love with a man who had technically kidnapped her, not to mention was apparently Seven’s long lost brother.

                “I… Things are going better. With Ray specifically. The situation as a whole though, I’m not very sure.” She wanted to be vague. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen when she and Ray left Magenta. The RFA would probably separate them, finding Rika definitely wasn’t an option, and could she really go back to her old life? There was nothing there for her anymore. There hadn’t been anything there for her besides a bottle of painkillers.

                “What’s happening with the situation?” Seven glossed over her mention of Ray, which surprised her, but she decided to be blunt in continuing the conversation.

                “We know about the raid.” Seven sucked in a breath, clearly not prepared for her response. “Rika knows about it as well.”

                “Shit.” She heard Seven begin to talk to someone else, but she cut in.

                “Please. Don’t tell them yet.”

                “Why shouldn’t I?” Seven demanded. “If she knows, then the information on Mint Eye most likely isn’t going to be around much longer.”

                “Give Ray and I the chance to get out of here. We’re leaving as soon as he finishes coding something. I’m packing right now. Please Seven. Let us go.”

                “What is he coding?” Seven’s voice was serious, and Cloud had a feeling that he already knew what Ray was coding. He just wanted Cloud to confirm it.

                “This place is rigged. He’s re-coding the system so that it can be detonated remotely.”

                “Shit. Can you convince him to not detonate it at all?”

                “I barely convinced him to make it detonate remotely.” Cloud felt her words hitch. “He was planning on staying here. To make it go off in person. To help get rid of things tainted by Rika.”

                “That gives me every reason to push the raid forward!” Seven’s calm had broken. “We can get you both out safely. No bombs necessary!”

                “Think, Seven. There’s no way in hell that we wouldn’t get arrested. I could maybe get a pass, but there is an almost zero percent chance that Ray would avoid it.”

                “If that information is gone, we have nothing on Rika, and no way to make sure she faces the consequences she deserves. Fuck Cloud. What do we do?”

                Cloud found herself pacing, trying to find _some_ way for this to not go completely to shit. It hit her. The party. “Rika wanted the party.”

                “What?”

                “The party was Rika’s idea.” Cloud continued. The dots had finally connected. Why she had been brought her in the first place. “That was the goal of the game. Talk to the characters, get guests to come to the party. Seven! She wants the party!”

                “For?”

                “The guests! They’re real people! She’s going to induct them to Mint Eye using the party!”

                “If we cancel the party, that can’t happen.”

                “It’s too short notice. She knows that. She’ll play it off as the founder. She’s going to try and induct them. I’m not sure how, but could we use that?”

                “If there’s clear evidence of her trying to drug the guests, I think it’s possible.” Seven was making connections as well. “We’ll send one of the members to the venue. Catch her in the act.”

                “Yes!” Cloud almost yelled. There was a plan coming together. They would get her, and she wouldn’t be able to hurt them anymore. Ray, Saeran, V. They could be free of her.

                “Also,” Seven’s tone dropped into absolute seriousness. “This needs to work. You never told me about the code. You didn’t know anything about it, I didn’t know anything about it. Run. Get out of there.”

                “Right.” Cloud nodded. “I’ll try to stay in contact. I’m not… I’m not entirely sure what’s gonna happen.” She paused, hesitantly bringing up another scenario. “We’ll probably end up in the hospital.”

                “Why do you think that?”

                “The elixir. Based off how V reacted to it leaving his system, Ray’s detox is going to be so much worse. I can’t handle that on my own.” Cloud’s voice had gotten quiet. It was going to be hell on him, but the elixir needed to be cut out of his life. Seven was quiet, and she could almost hear the gears turning in his head.

                “The hospital where V is right now can handle it. He was still detoxing when we came in for the stab wound.” Seven almost sounded like he was thinking out loud, but Cloud hung onto every word. His voice suddenly focused, clearly speaking to her again. “I’ll give you the address. Convince him to go, and if he disagrees, force him. I know that sounds shitty, but Vanderwood and I barely handled what V went through.”

                If Cloud wasn’t positive before, she was now. They were going to have to go to the hospital. She wrote down the address that Seven gave her, promising him once again that she would take care of Ray, before hanging up.

                She had spent a lot of time talking to Seven, and Ray was probably almost done with the code. She began to throw things into the duffle she had found, making sure to grab the few things that Ray had asked her to grab. After doing a quick double check, she ran out of the room, not bothering to put the hood up. There was no one here anyway, and she just needed to get back to Ray.

~

                She had made it to Ray just in time to see him finish up the last few lines of code. He looked up when he heard the door open, smiling when he saw it was her.

                “You ready?” She asked, trying to get her breath back from the quick run she had done.

                “Yes. Ready when you are.” She smiled, and took his hand in her own, lacing their fingers together.

                “Lead the way.” He was staring at their intertwined hands, as if when he looked away, it would have been only something he imagined. Ray’s smile was soft, and he began to direct her towards the garage and the car that he had tried to convince her to leave in earlier.

                Ray stumbled when they reached the car, as if he had lost all power to move his limbs for a split second. He looked shaken, breaking out into a cold sweat. His smile finally disappearing.

                “I.. I don’t know what that was.” He clearly had no idea what was going on, but Cloud felt that her earlier fear was coming into fruition.

                “How often were you taking the elixir?” She asked.

                “Twice a week or so. Why?” Cloud realized that Ray hadn’t made the connection that the elixir was doing this. She pulled the keys out of his hand and directed him into the passenger seat.

                “Cloud?” He sounded so pitiful it hurt. “What’s happening?”

                “The elixir is leaving your system. We need to go to the hospital.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I have returned a new college grad! I really missed writing for this, so I hope you all enjoy.
> 
> Also, announcement for Ray's route?? Holy fuck I'm excited and scared.

              “No… No hospital. Hospitals are scary.” Ray’s voice was so small and childlike it tugged at Cloud’s heartstrings. It didn’t help that his eyes were starting to water up. “If not having it makes me feel like this… Please, Cloud. Let me take the elixir.”

              Cloud ran a hand through his hair, frowning when she could feel his trembling so intensely. “No honey. The elixir is causing this. It’ll only last so long. That’s why we need to go to the hospital.” Ray’s eyes fell closed, tragic disappointment flooding his features. “But first, we need to change your clothes. You look like you just came from a costume party.”

               Cloud knelt down next to the passenger seat where he was sat and began to undo Ray’s cravat. She then pulled off the suit jacket, revealing the vest and white button up underneath. “Jeez, Ray. Why do you have so many layers?” Cloud laughed lightly, trying to keep things bright.

               “You know?” Cloud looked up, seeing a mischievous look on Ray’s face, strong even through the pain. “I thought the first time you’d be taking my clothes off would be under better circumstances.”

               Despite feeling the blush on her face, she smiled. “Oh really? Our plans haven’t really panned out too well, huh Saeran?” He snorted before breathing out shakily and letting his head loll back on the seat. Cloud hummed, unbuttoning his vest and pulling it off. “Talk to me, love. Tell me what we’re gonna do after you get out of the hospital. Where we’re gonna go, what we’re gonna do. Anything.”

               He nodded, only moving to help Cloud get him out of the button up he had on, revealing a red tank top and tattooed shoulder underneath. “Nice tattoo.” Cloud said lightly, digging into the duffle she had packed, and pulling out a black zip-up jacket.

               “It’s… Mint Eye’s symbol.” Ray said quietly. She thinks it was Ray. The statement had been softer than anything she had heard from Saeran.  

               “It looks neat.” Ray blinked in surprise.

               “I thought you would be mad at me. You don’t exactly… like Mint Eye.”

               “What could I do about it?” Cloud shrugged, helping him into the jacket and then shifting him so that he was facing forwards in the car. She shut the door, picking up the duffle and moving to the trunk, popping it open. She placed it inside and spotted the box of trash bags tucked in with other questionable object. She wasn’t going to ask and instead just grabbed one of the bags out of the box.

                She got into the front seat and turned the car on. “Here, in case you need to throw up.”

                “What?” Alarm flooded his features.

                “I don’t know a lot about withdrawal, but I do know it causes nausea for some.” Ray’s concern seem to be replaced with exhaustion as he leaned his head back against the headrest. Cloud paused as she checked her phone. Seven had sent her the address of the hospital. Nice. She plugged it into her phone before backing out. “Quick question.”

                “Hm?”

                “What should I call you right now? You both seem to be pretty present at the moment, and I don’t want to mess that up.” Ray’s eyes cracked open and he glanced at her.

                “Not sure. You are right. We’re both awake. It’s weird.”

                “How about Sae? Sounds like Ray and it’s the beginning of Saeran.”

                He contemplated it for a moment, nodded and then smiled and closed his eyes again. “I like it.”

                Cloud smiled, and continued to talk. It was clear at this point that Sae wasn’t up for it but she needed to keep him awake somehow, and if that was talking about that one time in high school when she almost knocked her front teeth out, so be it.

~

                Cloud pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. They had made it in a decent amount of time, which may or may not have included some speeding on her part. After parking, she immediately jumped out and ran to the passenger side of the car. Helping Sae out, she pulled his arm over her shoulder and lead him into the building, his tremors shaking her as well.

                “Please. We need help.” Until this very moment, Cloud hadn’t realized that she hadn’t come up with a story. She had a feeling that “Oh hello, me and my boyfriend are escaping from a cult and he’s coming down off of this drug they had him on for a questionable amount of years” wouldn't work.

                Yeah. That wouldn’t go well.

                 She got Sae situated in a chair as the receptionist of the emergency room gave her the paperwork to check him in. Damn. He must have felt her tense up, as Sae slowly opened his eyes and began to whisper the information to her. She pressed a kiss to his hair, and filled out the information.

                Almost as soon as she gave them the paperwork, the started to rush Sae back.

                “I’m sorry. If you’re not family, you can’t come back with him.” Cloud knew the nurse was just following regulations, but it pissed her off.

                “I am literally the only person he has.” Sae must have heard her interaction with the nurse, as he immediately started to struggle against the nurses taking him.

                “No! I need Cloud!” He desperately reached out for her. “Cloud!”

                The nurse was starting to look exasperated. “Fine. Go back with him. As far as anyone is concerned, you didn’t have a chance to grab your ring before coming here.”

                “Thank you.” Cloud said softly, following the nurses and Sae into the back.

~

                They had set him up in his own room, and for the moment, Sae was unconscious. The doctor she had spoken to had said that there honestly wasn’t much they could do. Sae would have to ride this out on his own, but having the monitoring from the hospital would definitely help make things more stable.

                Her phone vibrated with a call. It was Seven.

                “Hello?”

                “Cloud! You’re okay?”

                “Yeah. Sae and I got to the hospital not too long ago. They’ve got him in a room, but there isn’t much I can do. Thanks by the way. For the address. You really didn’t have to do that.”

                Seven laughed. “Of course I did. Especially for my brother and the newest member of the RFA.” His light tone dropped. “Speaking of the RFA, what happened with the bomb at Magenta?”

                “What do you mean?”

                “The bomb never went off. The raid happened without a hitch. You said the place was rigged.”

                “He must have had it rigged to his phone. The withdrawal symptoms prevented him from setting him it off. He doesn’t have access to his phone anymore either.”

                “Shit. This sounds terrible, but that really helps us out. We got all the information on Mint Eye that we could ever need. But fuck.” Seven sounded distressed. “Is there anything we can do for him? Like at all?”

                “Not that I know of.” Cloud said quietly. “But I will take care of him, the best I can.”

                There was silence on Seven’s end, before seemingly changing the subject. “Where are you right now? In the hospital?”

                “I went to the cafeteria. I needed coffee, or something. I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

                “Awesome. If a man in leopard print approaches you, don’t freak out.”

                “What?”

                “I gotta go. I need to filter the information we got and try to remove traces of Saeran.” And with that he hung up.

                Cloud looked at her phone. She should be used to Seven suddenly hanging up on her, but each time it caught her off guard. She decided that the last comment he had made was just another Seven weirdness, before turning and finally purchasing her cup of coffee.

                As she fixed her coffee to her preferred flavor, a voice called out to her.

                “Excuse me, miss. Would you happen to be Cloud?” She had only heard the voice two other times, but it was familiar. She turned around to see a man with long brown hair in a black and purple shirt.

                “Yes, I am. Would you happen to be Vanderwood?” He smiled slightly, seemingly glad that he wouldn’t have to introduce himself. “You seem to be missing the leopard print I’ve heard so much about.”

                He immediately scowl. “Damn, Luciel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you wanna come freak out about Ray's route with me, find me on my tumblr [here](edgelord-saeran.tumblr.com)


	12. A Godly Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all. So remember when I threw cider on my laptop? Turns out that fried part of the motherboard. Yaaay. So while that's getting repaired, the main plotline of this is gonna be on pause since the doc with the story in it is currently absent for God knows how long.
> 
> In absence of actual chapters, I'm probably gonna put up these shorter drabbles, so if there's anything specific you wanna see, shoot me a prompt.

What do you do when your long lost twin reappears, and your brother/father figure gets stabbed almost at the same time?

Saeyoung hadn't quite figured that part out yet. He'd have to confront the both of them, one to sort out the lies and betrayal and the other... almost the same things. He needed to do it soon. Sooner than later.

He had wanted this reunion. God, had he wanted this reunion. Saeran would be happy and safe and they could live freely in a way that they had never done before.

He had wanted V to be part of it too. While V hadn't physically been gone, he had shut himself off. The placating smiles and V's lack of participation in the RFA finally made sense. He was busy living a double life. Too busy to reach out to the friend group that would do anything for him.

(Saeyoung snorted as he thought of Yoosung. Most of them would do anything for him.)

But Saeyoung was afraid. His brother had always made him whole. Even during their separation, the thought of Saeran's happiness kept him going. One day, they could be happy together. He'd no longer have to make sacrifices, and they could be safe. 

But Saeran didn't need him. Hadn't needed him. He'd latched on to Rika, and then Cloud. While he could be angry with Rika for the lies and manipulation, he couldn't be angry with Cloud. She had done her best with what she had to work with and somewhere along the line, she and Saeran had formed a bond. A bond that wouldn't let her run away from the cult that had kidnapped her. 

V didn't need him anymore either. He'd been distant in the past year or so ( _lying to you, deceiving you_ ) but they had always been able to depend on each other. But now V had Vanderwood. Saeyoung was happy for them, had seen the attachment the two had formed while V had healed.

How did people manage to form these bonds in such short periods of time? It was almost ridiculous. He had to laugh. Where was his three day love?

( _It's because you're unlovable. No one needs you_ )

Saeyoung huffed as he ran a hand through his hair. He had been sitting in the hospital parking lot for the past... shit. He'd been here for almost an hour.

The information they had gained from Magenta was damning to Rika and Saeran. Now they just needed to find Rika, and Saeyoung needed to shift through the data to remove the traces of Saeran. An almost impossible task to undertake. He had been intertwined with Mint Eye basically since it's inception. 

Saeyoung appreciated that Jumin had given him the go ahead to comb the data. Jumin wasn't a fool. He knew that Saeyoung would have done it, permission or no, but it was nice to have it. 

Saeyoung finally got out of the car and made his way into the hospital. He gave a smile to the receptionists as he walked past. They were familiar with him now, having been there when they had come in with V. 

He checked his texts again as he entered the elevator. Cloud had sent him the room number that Saeran was in. He wasn't exactly sure why she had done so. Her plea to let them go echoed in his head. 

He realized that he was about to make a poor decision, but he didn't care. He needed to set eyes on him. No matter how much Saeran hated him.

He checked the number again, glancing up to make sure that the number on the door matched.

Taking a deep breathe, he opened it. Mint green eyes instantly latched onto his figure.

"Saeran?"


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the interlude thing didn't go over too well I guess based on the amount of response I recieved so I'm just gonna leave that be. My laptop is back anyways.
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoy and please comment to let me know what you think, how I'm doing, whether good or bad, I really don't care, but I'd like to know.

               Cloud had to admit. She was afraid of speaking with Vanderwood. The few times they had spoken hadn’t exactly painted her in the best light, and the entire situation they had found themselves in wasn’t the best.

                To her surprise, while they sat at one of the tables outside of the small hospital café, he thanked her.

                “What for?” She knew that she sounded incredulous, but there was absolutely no reason as to why he would be thanking her.

                “You did a lot, even if you don’t think you did.” Vanderwood spoke softly, but she couldn’t meet his eyes, choosing to look down instead.

                “Yeah. A lot. Got myself kidnapped and then refused to leave even when I had a clear escape route. I somehow managed to fall in love in eleven days to a guy that’s currently coming down off of a years long drug high that he wanted me to join him in.” She huffed into her coffee cup, finally looking up. “I did a lot, but was any of it positive?”

                “Don’t be stupid.” The softness was gone, and somehow that made it better. “You found Luciel’s brother, you gave us an in to get evidence on Mint Eye, and you helped Jihyun start realizing that he wasn’t in this alone. So, yeah. I’d say you did some positive.”

                “I also got V stabbed.”

                “Did you know it was going to happen?”

                “No… I just… wanted the messenger fixed.” She looked back down again. She felt guilty, not just towards V, but the entire RFA. She had shown up in their lives to effectively destroy the thing that had kept them together. _A parasite until the end._ “It was important to them. I wanted them to have it back.”

                “And they did. The app works fine again. For the most part. Luciel will probably need to scrub it some, but otherwise it’s fine. It wasn’t your fault.” Cloud hummed at his words, not fully accepting them, but not wanting to continue the conversation. She blinked as one of the things he said hit her. She looked up at him, sly smile on her face.

                “So, Jihyun, huh? Sounds like someone else helped him realize he wasn’t alone.” A flush filled Vanderwood’s face. “No secrets at this table, Vandy. Tell me about it.”

                Cloud felt slightly bad for making the agent so flustered, but at the moment, she was going to latch on to the topic that brought her focus away from what was happening. The only thing that mattered at the moment was teasing Vanderwood about his crush while offering an ear to listen. She had a feeling that he didn’t get it very much.

~

                They sat and talked long enough that Cloud’s coffee had gone cold. She’d learned a lot about Vanderwood. He was learning Arabic because of Seven (Cloud wasn’t entirely sure what the connection was, but the clear frustration on his face made her hesitant to ask), that if he had the chance he would change his name to Stark, and that he was utterly terrified of the relationship that was forming between himself and V.

                “As an agent, you’re just not… you’re just not supposed to.” He had gritted that last part out, as if the reminder of the rule he had set hurt him physically to say. “It puts them in danger. Paints a target right on their back. How can you say you truly love someone if you can put them through that?”

                “You really can’t plan who you fall in love with.” Cloud said, running a finger along the rim of her cup. “And I know it’s early, but could you walk away from him right now and honestly say that you have no regrets?”

                Vanderwood shook his head. “If I’m being honest, I don’t even what to be away from him right now.”

                “Well that’s that then.” Cloud said with a smile. “You need to talk with him. I’m sure that the two of you will be able to make things work.” Vanderwood finally had a small smile, and Cloud could only count that as a victory. “You know, you can leave if you want to. Get back to him and all that.”

                “Nah,” Vandwood said, stretching out his arms in front of himself. “While I would love to go back, I don’t want to leave you by yourself.” Cloud opened her mouth to argue, but an approaching nurse interrupted her.

                “Mrs. Choi?” Cloud look at her in confusion for a second. _Oh shit. That’s me._

                “Yes?” The nurse looked at Vanderwood hesitantly before continuing.

                “There’s an… um… incident occurring in your husband’s room, and you being there might help to deescalate the situation.”

                Cloud immediately stood, hesitating for a second, unsure of what to do with the mug in her hand. Thankfully, Vanderwood took over.

                “Well that solves that, huh?” Vanderwood had an easy smile on his face as he stood and took the mug from her hands. “Go take care of your boy. I’ll take care of this. We’ll talk later?"          

                Cloud gave him a quick nod and then followed the nurse down the hall.

~

                When the nurse had said incident, Cloud wasn’t sure what to expect. She hadn’t been there when V was coming down off of the drug, and had only heard that it had been unpleasant, in the softest of terms.

                What she had not expected was a redhead to come barreling out of the room, running into her. The man managed to catch her before she hit the ground. When she was stable again, she finally realized who it was.

                “Seven? Why are you here?” His golden eyes widened and he grinned widely despite looking as if he could break into tears at any second.

                “Cloud! I just wanted to visit. Which may have been a mistake, but you know me!” Seven forced out a laugh that sounded more hysterical than real. An angry scream sounded from the room behind him and he attempted to suppress a flinch. Seven suddenly patted her on the shoulder and moved around her. “I should probably get going. Check up on V. Vanderwood’s probably there, but the more the merrier I suppose!”

               And with that, he was gone.

               Cloud wanted to stop him, to ask him what had happened, but the nurse began to push her into the room. The door was shut behind her and she realized that the nurse hadn’t followed her. She looked towards the bed to see Sae.

                His eyes were wild and unfocused, and he was almost hyperventilating. Cloud quietly made her way over to him, and noticed that his wrists had been bound to the bed. The angry red lines on his arms gave a good indication as to why.

                “Sae? What happened, love?” His eyes suddenly focused on her, the green absolutely blazing with anger. It softened a little when he realized it was her, but there was still a fire.

                “Why did you do this to me?” Sae’s voice was ragged.

                “I’m not sure what you mean.” Cloud was by his bedside, and moved to remove the restraints.

                “Don’t.” Sae bit out, and Cloud flinched at the sudden noise. “I don’t know what I’ll do if my hands are free.”

                There was a brief silence as Cloud processed what he had said. He was afraid that he would hurt her. “Why do you think you would hurt me?”

                “Because you did this!” A hysterical laugh bubbled up through his lips as he stared at her. “’Don’t take the elixir Ray.’ ‘We need to go to the hospital, Sae.’ I feel like dying now even more than when my brother fucking abandoned me!” His eyes bored into her. “Did you plan that? Make him come here? To hurt me?”

                “I didn’t know he was here.” Cloud shook her head. Whatever had happened with Seven had clearly shaken him terribly.

                “I was fine. Living with the Savior in Paradise. Everything was fine. And then you showed up, and everything in my life came tumbling down.” He was shaking. “But I ended up in love with you. And you destroyed everything.”

                Cloud wanted to pretend that everything he was saying was just from a detox symptom, but he wasn’t saying anything false. She had destroyed everything, just like she always did. She couldn’t speak, even as she watched him begin to cry.

                “I love you, but I hate you. I hate you so much.” Sae whispered and all Cloud could do was hold his bound hand while he sobbed.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're quickly coming to an end! I know I said that like seven chapters ago, but I'm being honest this time. Still not gonna put a solid end number, but soon.
> 
> Keep commenting and let me know what you think! Every single one makes my day.

                Sleep had finally taken Sae, stopping his tears as well. The slowing of his hitching breaths finally caused Cloud to look up from the hand she had clasped in her own. She let go, wrapping the end of her sleeve over her hand so she could reach up and wipe away the tear tracks from his face.

                She hesitated before she touched his face, but went through with it anyway. He hadn’t objected to her holding his hand, even clutching back after a while, so he probably wouldn’t object to her trying to take care of him.

                Cloud sat in the chair next to Sae’s bed, trying to process the emotional rollercoaster they had just gone on. Now that he was asleep, Cloud had nothing to focus her energy on besides Sae’s words.

                He loved her. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. He hated her. He thought that she was intentionally hurting him.  Cloud sat back with a sigh. Her rational side was telling her that his words were because of the situation. Once they got past this, they could be stronger together. It was hard to listen to that side when “ _You destroyed everything_ ” echoed in her head.

                The door opened up, and a nurse stuck her head in. “Mrs. Choi? There’s someone here to see you.”

                Cloud nodded and stood up. _No time to feel sorry for yourself. You need to get your shit together._ She pressed a kiss to the top of Sae’s head and then followed the nurse outside of the room.

~

                The person waiting for Cloud outside of the room surprised her. There was a taller man in a suit speaking to the one of the nurses. As the Cloud approached, he turned to her.

                “Jumin!” Cloud couldn’t hide her surprise.

                “Cloud.” He nodded to her. “I need to speak with you.”

                “Of course.” Those six magic words instantly made her anxiety skyrocket even more than it already was. “There’s a café on this floor if you want to go there?”

                Jumin nodded and started walking in the direction of the café. Slightly caught off guard, Cloud hurried to keep up with him.

                “You seem to know the layout of this hospital pretty well.” Cloud commented, not wanting there to be silence, even during the short walk they were going to take.

                “This is one of the hospitals my father owns. I was a part of the approval process.” Jumin said as he selected a table. Ironically the one she and Vanderwood had been sitting at earlier. “Would you like something?”

                “I’m good. Thank you though.” Cloud sat down as Jumin did. “Um… I don’t want to sound rude, but what do you need to talk about? To be honest, I wouldn’t expect you to want to speak with me after… everything.” Cloud trailed off.

                “There were a few things I wanted to talk about, but first, when was the last time you slept, Cloud?”

                “That’s a good question.” She laughed slightly. Cloud knew that she probably looked rough, and as she looked up, she realized that Jumin did too. His suit was impeccable, but there were bags under his eyes that hadn’t been in any of the pictures he had posted in the messenger. “You too. When was the last time you slept?”

                “It’s been rather busy recently. I’d say around the last time you slept.” Jumin said flatly. Cloud had to laugh. It was an understatement.

                It suddenly hit her what day it was.

                “Wait. Isn’t the party supposed to happen today?”

                “It is.”

                “I’m sorry. The guests…. What’s going to happen with the RFA?”

                “I don’t understand why you’re apologizing.” Jumin said, leaning back in his chair. “You did your job as our coordinator.”

                “I got a lot of guests for a party that’s presumably been cancelled.” Jumin didn’t respond. “It had been cancelled, hasn’t it?”

                “Not technically.”

                “What does that even mean??”

                Jumin leaned forward “The RFA members are the only ones that know that the party had been cancelled. We’re using it as bait for Rika. As the founder and the person who wanted this party in the first place, she’ll most likely try something. She won’t be able to run. The guests will be apologized to and given preferential treatment for any future party they are invited to. You did your job Cloud.” Jumin gave the information as if he was talking about the weather and not taking down a cult.

                “And that brings me to what I wanted to talk about.” Jumin said, changing the topic. “Do you have anything lined up for after you leave the hospital?”

                “If I’m being quite honest, I don’t know what’s happening after this. Especially adding Sae to the situation.”

                “Would you like to continue being the RFA’s coordinator?”

                “Are you serious?”

                “Absolutely.” And with that, Jumin switched to business mode. “You did your job wonderfully. If this had been a normal year, the number and quality of guests you gathered would have made the party a huge success. There were just some… obstacles this year.”

                Cloud watched as Jumin’s face closed off as he finished sentence

                “I’ll take the job,” Cloud started. “but only if you answer my next question honestly.”

                “Sounds fair.”

                “Are you really okay?” Jumin blinked at the question, but Cloud continued before he could say anything. “Rika was V’s fiancée, but you two were also very close, weren’t you? This can’t be easy for you.”

                “I don’t have a choice but to be okay.” Jumin said. He let out a heavy breath, running his fingers over the cuff of his suit jacket.

                “It’s okay to not be okay.” Cloud said softly. “I know saying that doesn’t make easier, but it’s true. This may be out of line, but if you need a friend, or someone to talk to, I’m definitely here.”

                “You’re too kind, Cloud.” Jumin said with a small smile. “I will keep that in mind. That was the only thing I wanted to speak with you about. I’ll go ahead get the paperwork together.” Jumin stood up, and paused as if suddenly remembering something. “’Mrs. Choi’?”

                Cloud felt her face flush. “It was the only way they would let me come back with him. Family only and all that jazz.” Jumin nodded, accepting her answer.

                “You’ll have to excuse me. There are some matters with the party I need to deal with. Keep me up to date with what is happening here. Saeran is considered a special patient.”

                “Will do.” Cloud said with a smile. She wasn’t exactly sure what Jumin meant by the last part, but she could fulfill the other part.

                With that, Jumin turned and left.

                Cloud stood, not wanting to be in the café by herself, and headed back to Sae’s room. Their conversation hadn’t lasted too long, so she was certain that he was still asleep. She was eager to see him again, no matter how conflicted she felt at the moment.

                She paused in the hallway when she heard her 'name' come from the nurse’s station.

                “Have you seen Mrs. Choi?” It was the voice of the girl that had collected her from the café when Sae was breaking down earlier.

                “She’s talking with the Chairman’s son right now isn’t she?” The nurse that had told her that Jumin was here.

                “Can you believe her?”

                “Hm?”

                “Her husband is coming off of a drug binge, and she’s been gallivanting off with different men ever since she’s been here.”

                “She most likely knows them.” The other girl snorted.

                “Probably better than her husband is aware of.”

                Cloud couldn’t stand there anymore. She continued through the hallway, and the nurses became quiet. She wanted to say something. The fight in her was rearing its head, but she was so tired. The only way that would end would be in tears. She blatantly ignored the station as she went past, fleeing into the safety of Sae’s room.

                 She made her way to her chair, flopping down into it, and placing her head in her hands. God was she tired. She startled when a sudden hand found itself in her hair. She looked up to see soft green eyes looking at her. The restraints on Sae’s hands had been removed, and he was gently stroking her hair.

                 “Hey.” He whispered.

                 “Hey.” She returned. “How are you feeling?”

                 “Like shit, but I’ll be okay.” He rolled his shoulders, and began to scoot himself over in the bed. “It’d be a tight squeeze, but can you lay with me? I want to hold you.”

                 He was being so soft with her and even as she began to tear up, she made her way into the bed, avoiding the wires and tubes that had been attached to him. He quickly wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in.

                 “I’m sorry about earlier.” He said suddenly. “I don’t remember much of what I said, but what I can remember saying, I shouldn’t have said any of it.”

                 “You didn’t say anything false. It’s okay.” Cloud said softly.

                 “No. It wasn’t okay.” He said pressing his cheek onto the top of her head. “You are precious to me, and I shouldn’t make you feel any other way.”

                 “Okay.” Cloud whispered. The warmth he radiated was soothing, and in the moment, she wanted nothing more than to pass out. He was silent for a moment, but then spoke up again.

                 “Hey, Cloud?”

                 “Hm?”

                 “Can I be Saeran?” Cloud attempted to shift to look up at him, but his arms tightened, preventing movement. “I’m… not fully him, and I know he chose that name because it was something she didn’t want them to have. But… that was my original name. I think that’s what I want to be called.”

                 “Okay, Saeran.” Cloud nodded into his chest. “Hey. Love you.” She said quietly.

                 “I love you too, Cloud.” Saeran said softly. Cloud smiled, snuggling closer, and for the first time in God knows how long, she fell asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! This is the end! I know it's short, but to be honest, there wasn't really anywhere else I could take it.
> 
> Plus it's done just in time for Ray's route!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and commenting and sticking with me throughout this entire venture. For my first multi-chapter fic, I think I did a pretty decent job. 
> 
> Hopefully, I'll see y'all on the next venture :)

               When she woke up, it was to two people talking. Saeran still had a tight hold on her, so she figured it wasn’t one of the nurses. She kept her eyes closed, simply listening.

                “You could stay with me. I’ve definitely got room for you.” Cloud was surprised to hear Seven’s voice. The last time he had visited this room, it ended with Saeran restrained to the bed. She felt his arm tighten around her slightly.

                “I’m not leaving her.” He said firmly.

                “You wouldn’t have to. There’s room for her too.” Seven paused for a second. “You’d both be safe.”

                “How can you be sure of that?” Saeran’s voice was tight.

                “Rika is in custody. There’s enough to put her away for years.”

                “Which means there’s enough on me as well.” There was silence.

                “Not… necessarily.” Seven said quietly.

                “Saeyoung.” Saeyoung? “What did you do.”

                “I had permission!” Seven said defensively. “I removed your presence from the data. An unnamed member did all that now.”

                “Why would you do that? Why are you doing this?” Saeran’s voice was becoming rough, and quite frankly, it sounded like he was about to start crying.

                “Because you’re my brother.” Seven said matter-of-factly. “Because I love you, and I want to try and make up for all the time we spent apart.”

                “Okay.” Saeran said softly. “I need to talk with her. But… I’ll let you know…”

                She heard Seven shift, and then heard him move towards the bed. She felt Saeran stiffen slightly. “Okay.” She heard Seven say, and then she listened as the door softly closed behind him. Saeran sighed slightly, and she felt his thumb begin to rub her arm.

                “You seemed to have a good talk.” She said softly, tapping her finger on his chest. He huffed out a laugh.

                “How long have you been awake?”

                “Seven offering you a place to live.” She hummed. “Seven is your brother?”

                “Saeyoung.” Saeran said. “Twins.”

                “Huh.” She sat up slightly, and his arm loosened from around her. “So what are you going to do?”

                “I don’t know.” He said softly. “No matter what, I want to be with you.”

                “Well, Jumin offered me the coordinator job permanently, so I’ll be working with the RFA for a while.” She looked him in the eye. “If you want to move in with your brother, I don’t mind.”

                “Not if you don’t come with me.” Saeran held her hands, and she smiled.

                “I wouldn’t let you go without me.” He smiled at her and leaned forward, pressing his forehead to hers.

                “Wait for me. Until I get out of here. Then our life together can start.”

                “I can do that.” She said smiling, and then pushed forward, pressing her lips against his.

~

                Saeran had was hospitalized for the next couple weeks, and Cloud stayed with him the entire time. He had been issued a clean bill of health, with the elixir finally having left his system. It turned out that his case had been a major help for this hospital and several in the surrounding area.

                Former members of Mint Eye were coming out of the woodwork, all coming down off of the elixir.

                V and Vanderwood took off. There one day, and then the next they were gone. Saeyoung said that they were finding themselves. V without Rika, and Vanderwood without the agency. They would take care of each other.

                As for Cloud and Saeran, they had stayed in Saeyoung’s bunker for a week after Saeran had been discharged. They had their own room, and if they were being honest, it was sparse.

                “Do you want to get your stuff from you apartment?” Saeran asked her. She paused, unsure.

                “Only… If you go with me.” He wrapped her in a hug.

                “I wouldn’t let you go without me.” She looked up at him, and pecked him on the lips. He smiled at her, and in that moment, it was the most beautiful thing in the world to her.

~

                They had cleared out her apartment, with all of her things shoved in a variety of bags they had found. The last place she had checked was her kitchen, and she paused when she saw the bottle of pills on the counter. Cloud picked it up, rolling it over in her hands.

                It felt like she had place the bottle there years ago, rather than a month ago. It scared her, that she had been that close. But then she heard Saeran shuffling around in the other room, and it was okay. She was in a better place, with people who loved her.

                “You ready to go, love?” Saeran stuck his head into the kitchen. She smiled at him, dropping the bottle into the trash bag they had collected.

                “Whenever you are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late, I got caught up doing number prompt drabbles on my tumblr. There's a decent amount, so if you enjoyed my writing here, check it out some more at edgelord-saeran.com

**Author's Note:**

> find me at edgelord-saeran.tumblr.com or theglowqueen.tumblr.com


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